Baptist ministers scold 'gang of five,' defend Vice Mayor Smitherman

A group of Baptist ministers released an open letter Thursday denouncing Cincinnati City Council's "gang of five" and defending Vice Mayor Christopher Smitherman.

Last week, a group of civic leaders and civil rights activists called on Smitherman to apologize after he called his fellow councilmembers' behavior "evil" and told Councilman Greg Landsman, "You don't know what I'm capable of."

Smitherman said he was upset about group text exchanges among Democrat council members that are at the center of a court case about whether those members violated Ohio's Open Meeting Act.

The ministers did not mention Smitherman's alleged threat, instead accusing the "gang of five" of trying to pull Smitherman into their scandal.

"Facing legal pressure, the Gang of Five leaked some text messages to their political ally, Derek Bauman, in an unsuccessful attempt to drag Vice Mayor Smitherman into the lawsuit," the letter said. "This underhanded maneuver happened at a time when the Vice Mayor's family was dealing with his wife's serious illness."

The "gang of five" is made up of Landsman, P.G. Sittenfeld, Chris Seelbach, Tamaya Dennard and Wendell Young.

The ministers called their actions a "gross neglect of public trust."

"The Gang of Five pontificates publicly about transparency, while holding secret deliberations behind the scene," they wrote. "The Gang of Five preaches civility in public, but privately describes colleagues using vile and crude language."

In one text message, Mayor Cranley is referred to as a "little sucker."

Last week's letter calling for Smitherman to apologize also decried comments made by Tracy Gragston, a Smitherman supporter who worked on his campaign.

In an email to council members, Gragston said, "You all did evil towards the vice mayor and his family... Councilmember Landsman shouldn't hide behind Star of David and synoguage (sic) shootings as a cover for evil. The Bible says not to use your freedom as a cover to do evil. Taxpayers deserve better."